


Sleep

by SleepyStargazer



Series: Gravity Falls [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: AU of a fanfiction, Angst, Angst and Comfort, Drabble, Fanfiction of a Fanfiction, Gen, Nightmares, Non-binary character, One-Shot, Post-Weirdmageddon, Prompt Fic, Tumblr Prompt, child oc, not everything is as it seems, prompt meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23284678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepyStargazer/pseuds/SleepyStargazer
Summary: Sleep is such a necessary thing. Isn't is just disheartening when a child hates it and the nightmares it brings them?
Relationships: Ford Pines/Reeds (Reader), Stan Pines & OC, Stanley Pines & OC
Series: Gravity Falls [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1674571
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: Loving Mysteries





	Sleep

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Curiosity](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22706479) by [Life_sans_Sin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Life_sans_Sin/pseuds/Life_sans_Sin). 



> To Preface this:
> 
> This fic is based on a fic that's actually in process (and approved by Life_Sans_Sin, the author of Curiosity of which this is an AU of in a way) right now. There are actually some things I haven't tagged, if only because I don't want to spoil anything (even if it seems obvious).
> 
> _Angst/Horror, #150 (“I don’t want to fall asleep. I’m scared.”)_  
>  _[AU of Curiosity-verse, Gravity Falls, Pre-Realizations, Jubilee & Stan]_

Sleep.

There was something about that single syllable, that simplistic word, that sent chills down their spine and goosebumps across their body. It allowed dread to pool in their guts, like a spool of barbed wire, and tear them to shreds with its jagged spikes without an outward sign of its progress. 

They hated that word and all that came with it, hated it with a passion that nearly terrified them as much as the mauling grasp of Morpheus himself. They hated how it crept upon them, when exhaustion clung to them like a ball and chain and it became a losing battle to keep their eyes open, then dragged them below the surface to realms unseen. They hated how it could find them anywhere, slinking through the shadows and beneath the cracks in the doors, and there was never an escape.

It terrified them so much, they couldn’t help hating it.

But what could they do? They were only six, too old to sneak down darkened halls and into their… into Mr. Ford and Mx. Reeds’ room, begging to stay with them when sleep grew too scary. They were a big kid, nearly a grown-up like the Shooting Star and… like Mabel and Dipper were. They could be brave in the face of the very thing they hated, they feared, right?

_Right?_

-

_Wrong,_ Jubilee thought as they heard the dreaded phrase leaving Reeds’ lips.

“Time for bed, Bee,” their guardian told them as they leaned against the entrance to the living room, the smile on their face just as soft their voice. “Have you brushed your teeth yet?”

Jubilee shook their head. No, they hadn’t, or else there’d be one less thing for them to procrastinate with. They were slowly turning it into their own art form, procrastinating bedtime; forget to brush their teeth here and pleading for just one more story there.

“Go do that now, then head up to bed. Stan volunteered for a story tonight,” they enticed Jubilee, offering them the rare _volunteering_ that didn’t involve them begging him an hour prior. 

“Okay…” The child grumbled as they slid from the yellow armchair with their soft, baby-blue dragon in their arms. “You promise?”

“I promise, he said he’d even tuck you in. Make you the cutest burrito ever,” Reeds said teasingly. “All we need is the blanket, and you’re cute enough already.”

Heat blossomed in their cheeks as they ducked their head, burying it in the marshmallow softness of Lovely, and mumbled incoherent yet pleased gibberish into Lovely. The heat grew as the low coo that escaped their guardian, spreading across their face and down their neck the longer they submitted to Reeds’ fond affection. Their stomach twisted and knotted itself with ribbons of fondness, warm and soft all at once, the more they heard and even further when Reeds ruffled their asymmetrical, self-made bob.

“Alright, baby Bee.” They slouched at the sudden change in tone, gently urging them onward. “Time to get moving,” Reeds told them before kissing their forehead and, once they offered their friend, Lovely’s forehead. “Sweet dreams and sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

Pouting, Jubilee wrapped an arm around their waist and hugged them tightly. “Night-night, Reeds. Sweet dreams and no bedbug bites.”

-

They dragged their heels as they shuffled into their room, sparingly decorated with their slowly accumulating stuffed animal collection and budding library. Stan was there to greet them and was already thumbing through the books of bedtime stories.

“Ain’t eager for bed, huh, kid?” he said in lieu of a proper greeting, a half grin on his face. 

A little voice whispered in their mind, urging them to tell a little lie and keep their secret. He didn’t need to know about their childish, consuming fear nor the hatred that the fear aimed towards it. They could—would work around it one day. They were almost an adult, after all. No one needed to know…

Shuffling past him, Lovely in hand, they sighed and sat on the edge of their bed. The pale green quilted comforter they loved, its bright yellow sunflowers and all, bunched beneath their butt as they scooted backwards and slowly shook their head.

“Mr. Stan, I don’t wanna go to bed,” they whispered, ignoring the little voice, as they watched the grin slip from his face. “I don’t wanna fall asleep.” Jubilee clutched Lovely tightly to their chest and buried the lower half of their face in its softness.

A silence fell in their room after their confession. They watched him as he searched for words, his brow furrowing in thought, before he asked, “Why not, kiddo?”

“I’m scared.” It was hard to say that, to push the words around the block in their throat and only have it come out a broken, hushed whisper. Fragments of dreams, _nightmares_ if they were honest, passed through their mind like a cheap movie trailer, out of focus and blaring with sounds. “It scares me.”

“Sleepin’ scares ya?” Stan asked as he left the rocking chair and sat beside them on their bed with a creak of springs. “Nightmares?”

They started to shrug, only to nod slowly. There was no point in hiding now, they already let their secret spill to him already. “They… Mr. Stan, they’re scary. There’s… there’s always someone screamin’ an’ shriekin’ while someone’s laughin’ ‘bout it all an’ usin’ me t’laugh. Nothin’ is nice an’ sometimes… sometimes, you’re there or Mr. Ford or Mabel or Dipper an’ somethin’ bad’s happenin’ an’ Mr. Ford’s bein’ _hurt_ an’ someone’s so _mad_ an’ _angry_ that somethin’ ain’t happenin’…” Whimpering, Jubilee shuddered at the chill dancing down their spine and looked up at the adult stiffening at their side with a watery eye. “I don’t wanna sleep, Mr. Stan.”

Stan was quiet for a while as he looked down at them, almost like he was seeing straight through them to somewhere, _something_ else. They turned away and buried their face into Lovely once more, dampening the soft dragon with muffled tears. That little voice was right, they shouldn’t have told him. Now, he was—

They flinched as a warm, heavy hand settled on their head and slowly, even as it trembled ever so slightly, pet their messy hair. Stan’s voice rumbled like a warm fire, chasing the chill away from their mind just like one too, as he spoke, “I can’t help ya not sleep, munchkin. Trust me, ya need it t’keep goin’, but I can help ya try wardin’ ‘em off; Sixer and Reeds’d help if ya asked, too. Might even have better solutions than me.” He sighed. “Still, I can offer an ear if ya find ‘em gettin’ too much and we can make a ‘catcher tomorrow.”

“What’s that?” They tried to ask into Lovely, only for it to come out as a muffled, “Wazzat?”

“S’a dreamcatcher. They catch bad dreams and send ya the good ones,” he explained. “Ya put ‘em over a bed, then ya sleep under it so it does its job.”

Jubilee raised their head from Lovely and looked up at the man, his cheeks colored faintly and eyes focused on their bedroom wall. “Can… can we try that?”

“Yeah, Bee, but for now, ya gotta lay down.” They slumped against him, and he chuckled quietly. “I know, but how ‘bout a deal? I’ll stay with ya ‘til you’re asleep, fight off them bad nightmares for ya tonight, and first thin’ tomorrow, after breakfast, we’ll get on the ‘catcher. Sound good, kiddo?”

“…Okay.” They sighed as they began a slow clamber to the head of their bed and burrowed beneath the comforter with Lovely. Stan scooted a little further up their bed, then carefully tucked them into a snug bundle. “Can… may I still have a story?”

“‘Course, who do ya think I am? A cheapskate?” He chuckled a little louder that time. “What one were ya wantin’?”

“Anythin’.”

“Anythin’, huh? Well, kiddo, have I told ya ‘bout the time Reeds turned into a merperson? No? Heh, so…”

**Author's Note:**

> In fact, Brit (life_sans_sin) and I have a blog for all our prompt responses if you guys wanna check it out or leave some asks! If you click [This Link,](https://pining-for-pines.tumblr.com/) you'll be sent there for sure! If not, the straight link is: https://pining-for-pines.tumblr.com/


End file.
